Apple has its global intelligence. It definitely serves a purpose… to hunt source of leak. They are the Worldwide

excerpt from gizmodo.com

Loyalty Team, also known as the “Apple Gestapo.”

FYI. Geheime Staatspolizei—better known as the Gestapo, was Hitler’s spy and trusted men. They can enter into any house or office at any time without any warrant or reason. They can seize whatever or whoever they wanted in their never ending search to find enemies of the state.

Apple has its own internal infiltrator snoofing everywhere, most especially in departments where leaks are suspected. Special Forces comes in once a leak is being suspected. They may arrive at any time of the day, mostly in the morning. They coordinate to whoever was the most senior manager in the building. But as the other writings are saying, it will not be a one of a kind event. It’s just business as usual with low profile with Apple’s way of investigating. Normally, employees are told to stay at their desks with instructions. The Apple Gestapo’s presence is felt but they never handle the communication. But they supervise and make sure everything goes as planned.

As for some interogation details, let me quote them form Gizmodo’s article.

Quote:

…all cellphones are then taken. Usually, they collect them all at the same time, which means that the process could take a long time. If you need to contact the exterior during the time your cellphone is under examination, you will have to ask for permission, and your call will be monitored. They back up everything and go through all the other phones’ text messages and pictures. If you have porn in your phone, they will see it. If you have text messages to your spouse, lover, or Tiger Woods, they will see them, too. Just like that. No privacy, no limits.

While all this is happening, the employees are ordered to activate the screensaver on their computers, so the Special Forces are sure there are no chats happening between employees or with the exterior. They are told not to speak, text or call one other when the lockdown is happening: “It is like a gag order, and if the employee does not want to participate, they are basically asked to leave and never come back.”

In my own opinion, the Gestapo thing was just a repackage presented in a modern manner. Nonetheless, the duties are still the same Internal Affairs task we all knew. It is a common practice in most multinational companies already. The objectives seem the same – to protect and safeguard the trade secrets of Apple Inc, in line with their past bad eperience as what happened to Machintosh.